Introduction to Pancha
Karma:

Panchakarma is a purifying therapy to enhance the metabolic process
through food and herbal medicines. It is used in deep rooted chronic
disease as well as seasonal imbalance of tridoshas. As the wastes
are eliminated from the body the person becomes healthy. Literally
Panch means five and Karma means action. So Panch Karma means five
types of actions or techniques or treatment. These types of therapeutics
are based on elimination therapy.

Elimination is a natural instinct of every living creature. Human
body is a complex type of wonderful machine, which has millions
of functions, majority of them are voluntarily controlled and some
of them are involuntary or self controlled. Millions of cells in
the body are working day and night to produce energy and maintain
the life. Lot of wastes are produced in this process at the level
of cells.

It is natural that some toxins accumulate in the body as a result
of various metabolic activities. It is necessary to eliminate these
toxins from the body, which the body is doing to the great extent,
but some toxins still remains in the body and causing many disease
when their quantity increases beyond a certain limit. These wastes
should always be eradicated from the body, otherwise they stick
into minute channels of the body known as 'srotas' and start producing
diseases. That is why, if we want to be healthy, it is necessary
to eliminate wastes from the channels and no room should be given
for accumulation of these waste products.

Doshas and waste materials accumulate in the body as a result
of following improper diet and living style. The seasonal accumulation
of doshas is also described in Ayurveda. For example, Kapha doshas
accumulate in winter. So to eliminate these excess doshas or impurities
from the body, various Panch Karma treatments are used.

Infinite number of unwanted toxins and unwanted metabolic substances
accumulate in our body in due course of time, which is against the
law of nature. These unwanted toxins and unwanted metabolic substances
have been accumulated for the major reasons being the air pollution,
the chemicals that we eat through our food, lack of body movements.
In this 20th Century man is following a life pattern which is totally
against the principles of nature. At the formation of Universe,
is was considered, that the universe was free from any pollutants.
Man is the cause for this pollutants. The question of accumulating
of toxins was not arising at that time because the resistance of
the body was strong enough to eliminate all the toxins in the natural
form. As now days the life being artificial we disobey the laws
of nature, as a result wastage gets accumulated in our body more
easily. When the wastage in our body reaches to uncontrollable limit
our bodies resistance is helpless and we become an easy prey to
disease. As a human being advances in age by the time he or she
is 40 these signs are clearly seen. The body resistance becomes
weak and the human being unexpectedly suffers from minor or major
disease. At this point Ayurveda says that body is not in equilibrium
with nature and it needs immediate correction. The process of correcting
is called panchakarma and is explained below how it is done.

Vamana: is a medicated emesis therapy which removes kapha toxins
collected in the body and respiratory tract.

Virechan: is a medicated purgation therapy which removes pitta
toxins accumalted in the liver and gall bladder. It completely cleanses
the gastro-intestinal tract.

Basti: is the king of all treatment since it cleanes the toxins
from all over the body. Medicated oil or ghee, herbal decoction
is given as enema.

Nasya: administration of medicated oil through the nose to cleans
the head, neck, brain region along with the respiratory tract disease.

Raktamokshan: letting out diseased blood and eliminates the pathogens
from the blood, plasma and skin.

Most of these treatments are used in chronic and deep rooted diseases.
Before actually doing the Panch Karma some preparatory treatments
are done. These are called the purva karma. These include:

Snehan:It is the olation therapy. It is of two kinds:
Internal snehan : In this treatment medicated oils and ghee (clarified
butter) etc. are given for internal use. These sneha are so subtle
that they can enter into minute pores of cell membrane. They have
a tendency of pushing or mobilising the impurities from there so
that their elimination becomes easy. Ghee (clarified butter) prepared
from cow's butter is best for this use.
External snehan : This comprises of different kinds of massage.
Medicated oils are applied on the body and different methods are
used for that. These massage techniques are many times used in the
treatment of muscular fatigue, loss of motor functions, arithritis,
paralysis, migraine, spondylitis and bodyache. They also induce
sound sleep by relaxing the nervous system, increase immunity of
the body and are beneficial to increase skin's lustre.

Swedana:
It is the second purva karma. It means fomentation or heating therapy.
Different types of fomentations like steam bath and poultices are
used on specific parts of the body. Many kinds of warm medicated
oils, water, milk and herbal decoctions are also used. They are
either used in a bath tub or are poured on the body. These types
of fomentation treatments are very beneficial in diseases like pains
in the joints, neck, lumbago, hemiplegia, urinary disorders, renal
diseases, muscular dystrophy, common cold, asthma and loss of muscle
functions. Swedana or fomentation liquifies or digests the doshas
and opens the mouth of blocked channels and pores of cell membrane.
This makes the elimination of wastes easy when the actual Panch
Karma are performed. So after doing these purva karma or preparatory
treatments the main karmas (panch karma) are done.

Paschat Karma:
After doing the Panch Karma, it is normally followed by:1. Samsarjan karma:After the Panch Karma treatments are done the patient feels
light and the digestive power becomes weak. A special diet and life
style are prescribed for about two weeks. Thus in this therapy the
digestive power and strength of the person is restored by starting
a light diet and gradually going towards a heavy diet. The patient
need not be admitted for this karma.
Shamana In this part internal medicinal treatment is given for the
disease for which panch karma was done. This is to give permanent
relief from the disease. So in case some cause of the disease is
left in the body even after the cleaning process, it is finished
by giving internal medicines. 2. Rasayana This means rejuvenating therapy. The best results
of rejuvenation can be achieved if it is taken after doing the Panch
Karma If rejuvenation therapy or Rasayana are taken without cleaning
the body we may not get best results because the effect of the Rasayana
is reduced due to the presence of toxins or wastes in the body.
It has been observed by clinical research that Panch Karma treatment
is very effective in diseases like hemiplegia, polio, rheumatoid
arithritis, skin diseases, epilepsy, insomnia, hypertension, cardiac
problems, intestinal diseases, peptic and duodenal ulcers, ulcerative
colitis and asthma. Besides this, it produces immunity and increases
youthfulness of our body.

Have you made up your mind? So start cleaning today. And remember
not only external but also internal cleaning.